After reading all the below, I was excited to hear this, but......The S>F is really a massive instrumental because Jerry's vocals are almost non existent. It's cool for a while, but it's not really a SONG.... I'm aware he had laryngitis this winter, so, ok....but this is an example of Jerry just skipping the vocal for endless jamming....he does start singing later..WR is nice.

Long interlude from Scarlet and you hear a lady coping with it all and just gasps whilst having a JerryGasm as he starts to sing. She sums it up nicely.

And yes, Jerry crushes!

Such a nice Scarlett/Fire here. I have to admit that I was not a fan of Weir ditching his ringing Ibanez for the overt Strat sound sometime in the early 80's and this recording reminds me why.
The final Fire solo is bliss, like the whole song existed before it just to launch Jerry.
Weir's freewheeling style is crystal clear here and complements the rest of the band the way I liked them.

The Other One. Cap'n DD is right...they crush it around the 6:40 mark.

Would love to more about where the Dead ate/slept/hung out when the greatest band in the land came to our sleepy upper midwestern college town.

I was at this show !!! all time great.
I got dropped off in front of Uni dome to get seats.
It was COLD some kind girls lent me a plastic garbage bag to sit in and we all huddled together.
My friends came back and said the Dead were staying at same motel as ours. 1st the Dead asked who was local, A few hand claps then who was from some place else the place exploded and so did the Dead. I recoded this show 5 rows back with a 1,000 dollar sony deck and 2 AKG mics. I then put on an Akai reel to reel and handed out as many cassettes of 2nd set as I could. Scar - fire was amazing Trucking - otherone mind blowing. Ate breakfast with Jerry the next morning, talked for 1/2 hour or so.

We all have our own opinions and I may be swayed by the fact that this was my first Grateful Dead concert. What a show. First set rocked hard and second set was just amazing, listen and judge for yourself. It had snowed during the show and left about eight inches on all the cars in the parking lot. Between the snow and the altitude made it very hard to find the car. Got up next morning and met Bob, Phil, Billy and Micky in the hotel resturant, and then when checking out met Jerry at the front desk . What a first time experience. This is the best show I have seen, and one of the best I have Heard

I have not heard a better Scarlet > Fire.
I've spent months searching this archive.
I have not heard a better Scarlet > Fire.

Buy Dick's Picks v. 18 for the crispiest version.


1 year UPDATE: I found a better Scarlet > Fire. It's called 4/24/78. Anyway this one is still a 5 star mindblower, but get that one too.

3 year review Update: this scarlet fire still smokes, and my trifecta of top s>f's now includes 2/3/79. But I now appreciate this one's scorching, heavy-metal style Other One, ridiculously aggressive and long Samson, and jammed-out, over-the-top Round&Round. Get this show however you can!

this scarlet features '77 portions stretched through a wandering '78 jam on a quality audience tape. on these inadequate speakers, it sounds a little light on the low end. high registers crackle a bit, but maybe p.a. or space issues arose in the "uni dome." whatever. this captures the echo, ambient feel, the "hall." nice.

(nice bracket in time from the previous posts.)

I'm a 14 year old deadhead, possibly the only of it's kind, and I live in the town of this Show
Good ol' Cedar Falls. Never realized they played in the Dome, Been to many school football games there and it was mindblowing when i found this show. To think such a masterpiece was created a few blocks away!

I felt fortunate to attend this concert and am delighted to find it here. February 5, 1978 was remembered as the coldest night of the year that winter, but that was easy to forget in the light, airy confines of the UNI Dome [one of those structures whose ceiling is supported by forced air pressure].

How did Jerry do it? A beam reflected from a spotlight on his guitar seemed to spread its blessings across every individual in the audience. For "Truckin'" another spot illuminated the semi pulled up next to the stage, and it was all I could do to resist that roadie fantasy of mine. ["Close Encounters Of the Third Kind" had recently been released]

yes this show is great (esp. for '78) but dick's picks 18 is well worth the money and is far superior to this aud version. go out and get it!

Jer is so totally on! Guitar on Samson nothing short of breathtaking. And I've just started listening. Haven't even gotten to the ScarletFire yet. Is there a first set out there? ... anywhere? ... Peace

my god, i know this is just the 2nd set but "WOW" what a hot jam. from samson right to the blues.jerry's just tear'in it up.a super scarlet right through to fire on the mountain.i loved it.thank you for a really good time.

Zaorish, check out 9/5/79 MSG.

So where is Deal? Its exciting to read about it in the reviews ~ I'd love to hear it. Is it streamable or downloadable somewhere?

The Around and Around is AWESOME!!! I was in a funk and I just threw on shuffle on my computer, and ALL OF THE SUDDEN I STARTED GETTIN' INTO THIS ONE!!! FUNK-NO-MORE! Thanx Jerry for comin' up like this when we all need ya'. AWESOME AROUND X2

This is only the second set, but it's a goodie. The Scarlet is better than any 1977 I've heard, and I've heard several dozen. The Fire is also one of the best of the era. The whole second set is high energy with great jamming right through to Around and Around and US Blues. Vocals are pretty good as well.

Wish we had the first set.

Only a 3 on the rating due to sound issues, but The Other One is great here- especially Jerry between the 6 and 7 minute mark. I usually think trilling on chords is a lazy thing on a guitar player's part- something they do while thinking of a new idea- and Garcia did rely on this at times, as do all others-but in this case the trilling goes through some convincing chord changes- very nice

Very dreamy scarlet. Samson comes out swinging really swinging after a rough start.

Check out the cool progression that Jer plays around 6:40 in Scarlet - this is more like a stand alone '76 than it is a '78. The fore is really long and drippy No matter what this is a smoker - points off for the crummy quality of this. If this were a board I would say one of the best of the year for sure.

Chicago may be better than this other one for '78 but arnd 6:50 Jerry is just crushing it....

Like the truckin>other no drums.... this is a great show.

Listen to the transistion as Keith pulls Jerry into Fire. Very Herion-esque! This version clocks in right at 30 minutes. On par or maybe exceeds 5/8/77, 9/2/78...a definite must for all who crave! 4 stars for performance, get the Dicks Picks and turn it up!

This show is ablaze with greatness, and is a must have. The scarlet jam is one of the top 3 I've ever heard. The "bonus jam" on Samson was supposedly the result of a broken microphone, and Jerry's series of same note staccato picks towards the end of the jam were supposedly directed towards the roadie working on the mike. When he stands up after the repair Jerry gives the super happy little guitar riff and then Weir yells Wooo! into the mike to see that it works. And away they go....

this entire set is one amazing moment after another. From the "bonus" solo at the beggining of Samson through the fiery Around X2, nothing in the set dips below exceptional. The sound is clean and does not represent much of a drop off from the Dicks Picks.

Nobody mentioned the viciously powerful Other One.If somebody has an SBD of this show,get off your ass and upload it.Dick's Picks,for some reason,coupled this show with the Dane County show 2 nights earlier.

Garcia's solo during this "Deal" is one of the many highlights of his career, another musical Faberge egg. He takes four verses, each one better than the last, a masterful bit of storytelling. The Scarlet-Fire is beautifully paced, and Garcia's improvisations at the end of Fire are truly inspired. And probably the longest Samson ever (Weir forgets the first verse, and has a heckuva time getting the song back from Garcia, who nearly refuses to stop soloing). What a performance.

AMAZING FIRE AND GREAT SCARLET

bass player are a bit strange they let to like their strings age like fine cheese.